


Change

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, keith gets braces
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:27:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21926677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: It's a rough day at work for Keith, probably because of his new braces.
Relationships: Keith & Shiro (Voltron)
Kudos: 8





	Change

Keith presses his lips over the brackets, wincing at the distracting pressure across his teeth.

Just one more hour, he thinks, and then I can go home.

Getting braces hasn't been an easy decision, by all means, but if he had imagined it would be this bad, he would have asked for a shift change. 

Taking orders and speaking to clients turns out to be a lot harder when your mouth feels completely alien. The wires and metal pieces protrude strangely, making him run his tongue across it repeatedly, amazed and horrified at the same time. They also cut up his cheeks, and it's the fifth time since the beginning of his shift that his lips get caught up in the brackets. The two elastics, on each side of his mouth, holding his jaws together, pull with more strength than is comfortable, and make Keith feel like his mouth is stuck.

But still, he is aware that the pain he is feeling now, in his gums and jaw, will get a lot worse really soon. It's some kind of pressure, building up and up. He has stopped a couple of times to rub the side of his jaw, but it didn't seem to help. 

It's frustrating - he wants nothing more than to rip these things out of his mouth and be done with it.

And to top it off, he looks stupid.

Well, maybe not stupid, but it's hard not to feel self conscious when you know your teeth are full of metal threading across. Keith isn't used to feeling like this, but he can't help but close his mouth as firmly as possible when a new client comes in, and it's driving him crazy. Speaking takes a bit of effort too. "S" sounds are hard to come out clearly, and there's way too much saliva all over his mouth, making his speech slurry and giving him a slight lisp - he feels like a six year old child speaking after losing one of his front teeth. 

At the end of the shift, he sighs in relief, and drives home. His mouth hurts worse, and he's ready to lay in the sofa with comfy pajamas and painkillers. 

"Hey!" Shiro greets him, "how was work?"

Awful, he thinks. "Was okay," he answers, throwing his duffel bag on the kitchen chair. 

Shiro looks up from his laptop, looking above his reading glasses. "Things went okay at the ortho?"

Keith plops down on the sofa, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. "I guess."

Shiro gets up and goes around the working table to sit next to him at the couch. "Can I see?" 

Keith closes his mouth more firmly, as a reaction, and then sighs. He finally opens his lips a little, letting Shiro see.

He looks a little surprised, but then chuckles, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Aah it's strange seeing you in braces... it doesn't look bad! It's just something to get used to."

"Be glad it's not you who has to get used to it," Keith says between his teeth. 

Shiro smiles sympathetically, rubbing Keith's shoulder. "Is it bothering you a lot?"

"A little, yeah," he answers, "my teeth are really sore."

Shiro winces in sympathy. "That must have sucked during your shift, huh?"

"Yeah..." Keith sighs. "It's getting worse now... It's just really uncomfortable."

"Hey, don't worry," Shiro reassures, "it will probably feel normal again soon. You just have to be patient."

"I am, I am... until then I'm stuck with a liquid diet."


End file.
